Galatasaray issues statement on black market allegations

Galatasaray Sports Club has released a statement regarding the black market ticket allegations that have emerged recently. 

RESPONSE TO ALİ KOÇ  

The yellow-red team responded to the remarks made by Fenerbahçe Club President Ali Koç, who had stated: "The black market business... Has anyone read the indictment? There are statements from a lady who worked there, she explains everything in detail. Turkish football is finished, it's working. You are still writing normal things! 56 million... It's not a figure that came out of nowhere. Their own congress members testified. They came for the investigation, we opened all the documents, we said, 'Log into Passolig, everything is there.' Three inspectors were pulled off the case. Then the investigation was closed. Who is allowing all of this? Why does the system work one way there and another way for others?" 

The statement issued by the yellow-red team included the following remarks: 

"Regarding the speculations that have been attempted to be drawn into our club in recent months, our president, Dursun Aydın Özbek, took the allegations to the judiciary through an application to have the matter investigated and to ensure that those responsible, if any, are punished. A comprehensive investigation was conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding these allegations, which consisted entirely of rumors, and it was understood that there was no concrete information or evidence that could prove the truth of the allegations among the witnesses.

It has been determined that the individuals in the position of witnesses brought up allegations on social media that they had learned from each other through written and visual media and social media. Apart from this, detailed investigations were carried out through the necessary institutions and organizations, and no evidence of a nature that could prove the allegations could be reached. Consequently, a decision of non-prosecution was issued regarding the suspects, and this decision has become final.

During this process, our club chose not to respond to the provocations and slander made on the subject, acting sensitively especially because the matter was before the judiciary. Despite the sensitivity we showed during the process, we see that at the point reached today, a new game is being staged by the president of the rival club, who cannot manage to win on the field, and his sidekicks. This individual and his friends, who obtained a witness statement from within the file, shamelessly voiced these absurdities at a press conference.

The statement in question belongs to a former GSTV announcer who was dismissed in 2023, and the legal process regarding this person, whose motivation for making false statements before the authorized authorities we can guess, will be followed meticulously until the end.

What is truly grave is that the rival club president, whose management of a holding company for years is incomprehensible and who is oblivious to accounting, uttered a figure like 56 million euros while looking at the cameras on live broadcast. We leave it to the appreciation of the Turkish sports community how desperate this person and his friends are to believe in stories that you could not even make children in primary school believe, such as 'They sold black market tickets, they made transfers with this, that's why they beat us.'"